I Heart My City: Anne’s Fairbanks

screen shot of article that appeared on NatGeo Intelligent Travel blog

Photographer, writer, and music industry publicist Anne Kristoff splits her time between New York City and wherever her husband, a Blackhawk pilot, happens to be stationed. Living in Fairbanks (her hubby is at Fort Wainwright) and blogging about Alaskan art and culture on AK vs AK has been a nice change of pace. One thing she loves about Fairbanks is that it makes you stronger: “I can now say: 40 below? No problem.” Learn more about Anne on her website and on Twitter @AnneKristoff.

Fairbanks is My City

Paddling down the Chena River. (Photograph by Christen Bouffard, Flickr)

When someone comes to visit me, the first place I take them is for a ride along the Chena River from Pioneer Park all the way through downtown and over to the Fort Wainwright Army Installation.

Summer is the best time to visit my city because it’s dark and 40 below zero in the winter.

You can see my city best paddling down the Chena or from high above on Chena Ridge.

Locals know to skip overtly touristy attractions and check out the local arts scene instead.

My city’s best museum isUAF Museum of the North because it provides a great history of art and culture and gives you a sense of past and present ways of life in Fairbanks. It also has a very unique design and sits high atop a ridge on the west side of town.

If there’s one thing you should know about getting around my city, it’s that you need a car in winter. Biking in summer can be fun. All in all, it’s an easy place to get around.

If my city were a celebrity it’d beFrances McDormand because it’s not frilly, but really good.

Silver Gulch is on tap everywhere in Alaska. (Photograph by Travis S., Flickr)

The dish that represents my city best is moose or salmon and Silver Gulch beeris my city’s signature drink.

Immaculate Conception Church is my favorite building in town because it has a ton of history, it’s on the banks of the Chena River downtown, and the walls and ceiling are pressed-and-painted tin. It evokes the Deniro/Penn film We’re No Angels.

The most random thing about my city is that most of its streets are dead ends.